How long do you let your kombucha scoby grow?

[Guest guest]

It used to be nine days was the magic number for me. We'd get some great

tasting kombucha out of that. But then I started on my fourth pickle jar and

cleared out the bottom of a cupboard and the new batch was not so great. In

fact it was so bland and flavorless, it was undrinkable. Strangely enough, the

scoby was paper thin, so maybe it was too cold down there for the bacteria to

grow well and I should have let it go longer? The ratio of tea to water to

sugar is Sally Fallon's ratio and that has always worked for me before.

I have a fiend who lets hers go three weeks and then does a week long second

ferment. But by then before the second ferment, it has barely no taste at all

and sometimes, I like to drink it without flavors.

I know with milk kefir, if I worked my milk grains ration in favor of taste

rather than consistency, I got the consistency I desired. I've heard I have to

grow a healthy scoby first and then taste will improve. So, then, is scoby

health based on thickness?

Thanks!

Deborah